Families checking a loved one into a drug rehab facility will hope they’ve found a center with a well-trained staff with a great track record of success.
When rehab clinics don’t put a priority on careful hiring and rigorous training, the quality of the center’s care can suffer. That can put patients at risk.
Rehab treatment center owners can be liable when patients suffer injuries due to an untrained, underqualified staff.
What is Negligent Hiring?
“Negligent Hiring” refers to a legal claim over an employer’s responsibility for an employee’s actions that cause harm. The case usually hinges on a facility’s owners’ hiring of an unfit employee that should have been discovered during the hiring process through background checks and other precautions.
Those suffering through recovery need constant monitoring and, at times, immediate action as they work through recovery. But without an experienced, disciplined staff at the ready, patients can be injured and even lose their lives.
These mistakes and others can sometimes be blamed on negligent hiring.
Here are a few examples of negligent hiring that can put patients in danger and leave facilities legally responsible for accidents:
- Background checks that fail to uncover past abuse of patients
- Background checks that fail to uncover a criminal record, perhaps drug use
- A failure to confirm all information on a resume
- A failure to verify education, licenses, and certifications
- A failure to confirm work record
- A failure to follow up with references
- A failure to perform a drug test before hiring
When rehab facility owners and operators knew about a problem with a new hire’s past or reasonably should have known, they can be held liable for the harm it causes a patient.
Evidence to show negligent training after an accident may be difficult for families to obtain. Lawyers for facilities may try to hide internal hiring records and incident reports. A skilled California drug rehab injury attorney can help families gain access to these documents to help build a strong case and earn justice for victims.
Negligent Training in Drug Rehab Injuries
“Negligent training” in a treatment clinic setting is also grounds for a lawsuit when a patient is hurt. Employers are legally responsible for making sure staff members are trained properly.
It’s an incredibly important factor in a drug rehab setting, when an employee’s lack of training can have life-threatening consequences for patients who manage to overdose on a dangerous drug like fentanyl.
- Lack of training on changing medical standards and the facility’s own policies
- Complete knowledge of requirements for rehab facilities from the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS)
- Lack of education efforts
- Lack of push to update certifications
- Lack of training for emergency situations
- Lack of supervision for staff
Negligent training leads to critical errors in situations involving detox or a drug overdose. Untrained staff can fail to monitor patients an established number of times over an hour. They can miss the signs of drug use. They might fail in their reaction to an overdose by failing to contact 911 right away. They can improperly administer a drug like NARCAN.
A facility may tell families that nothing could be done, and that an accident was the patient’s fault. But that’s not always the case. Families can take legal action and demand support for victims and their loved ones.
See: Other examples of Negligent Supervision
Negligent Retention in Drug Rehab Treatment Centers
Drug rehab facility owners and operators can make a reckless hire worse by not fixing the mistake. They can commit “Negligent Retention,” even after discovering problems with a staff members past history, or with their current job performance.
Negligent retention involves keeping employees after errors in the hiring process were found. At times it can include keeping staff members who have demonstrated unsafe and underqualified behavior.
When an employee who has been written up or disciplined in the past causes an accident and injury for a patient, treatment center corporate owners can be fully liable. Patients can receive full compensation for their medical bills and the additional pain and emotional trauma they are put through.
Contact Us if you Suspect Negligent Hiring Hurt Your Loved One.
Attorney Martin Gasparian offers a free, confidential consultation to families who lost a loved one at a California rehab facility.
Call us today or fill out a free case review form.
Remember, if you find you do need our help, we charge nothing up front. We are only paid if your claim is successful. Then our pay comes out of a settlement a facility must pay you.